


Macaroni and Cheese Isn’t the Issue

by R_Armchair



Category: Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
Genre: Attraction, Cheese, Dorks in Love, F/M, First Love, Podfic, Podfic & Podficced Works, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes, Romantic Fluff, Tacos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22777681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Armchair/pseuds/R_Armchair
Summary: Dora finds herself upset with Randy, but can’t figure out why.
Relationships: Dora/Randy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	Macaroni and Cheese Isn’t the Issue

**Author's Note:**

> This story mentions events from a deleted scene. Don’t worry, it gets recapped if you haven’t seen it.
> 
> If you'd prefer to listen:  
> [ You can find the mp3 here ](https://www.dropbox.com/s/3f48i09fc7sg05h/MacandCheeseIsnttheIssue.mp3?dl=0)

Mac and cheese was the best food available in the cafeteria.It’s only downfall was the lunch provider didn’t offer a dairy-free option.As deeply as Dora believed in a plant-based diet for the sake of the environment, she also believed no one would begrudge her for eating the dish.The food was worth the minor wavering of her moral compass.

Speaking of wavering, she’d noticed that Randy’s general nervousness was less present.After their journey, he’d learned to speak his mind.He was still timid, but he didn’t stutter and curl in on himself whenever an upperclassman approached.Actually, he hadn’t been thrown against his locker in months.

Dora spooned more of the elbow pasta into her mouth.“You’re not eating.”She looked over, to see him picking apart his lunch and staring into space.“I warned you those aren’t real tacos.Once you eat my _Abuela’s_ , then nothing compares.”

“Damn right, _Prima_ ,” Diego said, extending his fist across the table for a fist bump.

“Those were seriously good last night.”Sammy leaned against Diego, sighing with contentment.

“You should’ve come.”Dora found herself pouting.The feeling was foreign, so she forced herself back into a smile.“It was just me and those two.” She pointed at the couple across from her.“We ate dinner outside, it was really fun.”

Randy shoved the remaining shredded lettuce into his mouth.When she peered at him, he pointed at how he was busy chewing.The ten minute warning bell chimed, and he fled with his tray.

* * *

Math was the most exhausting of Dora’s subjects.She and Sammy were the only underclassmen in their statistics class.The teacher called on them even when their hands weren’t raised.Socially inept she may have been,but she was still aware that the upperclassmen loathed them.Finally the lesson ended and they had free time to work on their assignments.

“You invited Randy?”Sammy whispered, scooting her desk until it tapped against Dora’s.

“Of course I did.”She flipped to page 234 in the textbook.“Diego said you’d never tasted homemade tacos before.Then I said ‘I bet Randy hasn’t either.He actually enjoys the ones at school.’All of the sudden, _Abuela_ got this far off look in her eyes.”

“That explains it.”Sammy began transcribing the first problem onto a sheet of lined paper.

“Explains what?”Dora pointed at a number.“That’s a three, not an eight.”

“Why there was only three of us last night.”

“Randy was falling behind on his homework; _that_ explains why there were three.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s an eight.”Sammy rubbed her finger over the problem.A bit of grime rolled off the page.“Ok, it’s a three.But I’m talking about why your family set up a fancy dinner in the backyard with candlelight and music.That _ambiance_.Dora...”

“Hmm?”

“If you don’t get it, I’m not explaining it to you.”

“I know how to solve this problem on my own.I might need help with number seven, though.That one looks tricky.”

Sammy made a grumbling, grousing, guttural noise and got back to work.

* * *

“It’s the bus, there’s the bus, where’s the bus?” Dora sang quietly to herself.

Diego had soccer practice, so she’d be heading home alone that afternoon.Something about her conversation with Sammy left a looping, swirling feeling in her stomach.Perhaps her cousin knew what was up.Too bad she wouldn’t see him until that evening.

Just as the yellow vehicle chugged into view, she heard her name being called.She turned around to see Randy approaching.

“Wanna hang out?I feel bad about blowing you off yesterday.”

“You had school work.Education is important.”

He smiled at her.The swirling feeling doubled.Then she heard her name again, well, a variation of it.

“Hey Dorka, hanging with your favorite loser?”

“Could you stop with that already,” Randy said, turning to glare at the blonde boy approaching them.“Aren’t you going to miss your bus?Pity you failed driver’s ed.”

The remark was passive aggressive.Dora didn’t like negativity, but she knew interjecting would only make matters worse.

“Whatever.At least I don’t run around acting lovey-dovey with the school weirdo.”The boy pulled a stick of gum from his pocket and began chewing it.

“Nothing wrong with loving people.At least I know she loves me back.Can’t think of a girl on campus that would do the same for you.”

“That’s not very kind, Randy.”Dora grabbed his hand and started dragging him toward his car.The looping feeling shifted.It swam upwards to just below her left shoulder.She felt a series of pinches that pulsed across her chest.

When she glanced up at him, she noticed his face was flushed.Sweat stuck their hands together, but she didn’t know which of them was perspiring.

Once they’d locked themselves in his father’s old coupe, Randy finally spoke.“Sorry I gave him the wrong idea about us.”Growling, he rested his head against the steering wheel.“But he shouldn’t have called you that.”

Dora stroked the back of his head, and... Oh.The perspiration was definitely hers.Her palm clung to the back of his neck, just above the cowl of his hoodie.Right as he turned to look, her fingers slid down the side of his face.The faintest prickles of stubble were there.She snapped her hand away, but let it hover in the air.

“Wrong idea?You weren’t lying, even if you were rude.But I’m sure people love him at home.”

Heaving a huge sigh, Randy turned the key and engaged the motor.“When I told you I loved you, I didn’t mean it like _that_.”

The sensation in her chest spiked.It rattled around like the time Boots got stuck in a cabinet.It clanged in every direction trying to find a means of escape from her torso.She could feel it in her shoulders,in her ribs, and even in her belly.

Why did the words sound different this time, like she’d never actually heard them before?

Back when the guardians of Parapata had threatened to kill her and her family, Randy had been the one to create a pause.He’d interrupted the dire situation to admit he loved her.Then she’d responded by rambling off a list of everyone she loved too, including her friends and family.Even Boots.

Randy had said ‘that’s not exactly what I meant.’As if there were more than one way to love someone.As if love weren’t created equally.Love was something once given, could never be taken back.It was supposedly forever.

Attraction, however, was a whole different animal.Few creatures mated for life.Few cared where they even did it.Alejandro had been victim to that unlikely probability, when his head had functioned as a scorpion love nest.

You could be attracted to someone, but that didn’t mean you loved them.And you could easily love someone without any attraction.The key was finding a partner who met both criteria.

Dora looked up from her lap.The car had already pulled out of the parking lot.Attraction was something she’d never personally experienced.She’d spent her life sequestered with members of her family.Obviously she wouldn’t have formed a romantic bond with any of them.

She was sixteen; she lived in the city now.Odds were high it would happen sooner rather than later.

The sensation freckled down her arms and settled in the fingertips of her left hand.It tickled in the exact places that his stubble had scratched her.

* * *

Randy had made small talk the entire drive.Dora had nodded, but hadn’tpaid attention.She kept wishing that the thumping in her mid-section would disappear.She shouldn’t have eaten two portions of macaroni and cheese.Maybe all the dairy was the issue.

“We could watch a movie?”Randy asked, lifting both of their backpacks from the trunk.He slung one over each shoulder so she wouldn’t have to carry hers.“Or we could study.”

“Movie.”Dora followed the path to the door, but had to wait while he fumbled with his keys.Since she didn’t move out of the way, he had to reach past her to unlock his house.Earlier he’d pushed up his sleeves, so his bare arm now grazed hers.She glanced up at him, rememberinghis face after waking from the psychedelic flowers.He’d been elated and almost surprised to find her alive.

Right now, he had an expression she’d never seen.And she’d observed Diego enough to see almost all possible faces.Then she thought back to all the times she stared at him with Sammy.Dora had to view those interactions from an angle.Was this what he would’ve looked like up close?There was a sort of excitement that had nothing to do with jungles and adventures.There was also a sort of fear that had nothing to do with physical danger.

“Living room,” he paused to gulp, “or my room?”

The door swung open, and because he was still holding the knob he fell forward with it.Having stood directly in front of him, Dora had no means of escape.Tangled together, they crashed into the linoleum of his entryway.They looked up to see a pair of legs.

“I thought I heard Dora’s voice,” Randy’s mother said.“Would you like me to get you two a snack?”

“That would be wonderful,” Dora answered, trying to wiggle free.

* * *

With Randy’s mom ever present and nosing in his business, they chose to hide out in his room.They brought juice boxes and jalapeño poppers with them.So much cheese.Maybe she couldn’t digest it anymore.Dora’s internal organs must have been flipping all over themselves.After stuffing herself, she’d sat tucked against Randy’s side on an oversized beanbag.They always sat together like this when they watched something on his laptop.But today, he felt simultaneously too close and not close enough.

Dora tapped the space bar to pause the video.“Why didn’t you come over yesterday?”

He closed his eyes and began holding his breath.

“I will wait seven minutes if I have to.”

With a puff, he released the air he was holding.“Diego told me during biology.”That was his last class of the day, an hour before he’d claimed to be busy and bolted toward his car.

“What exactly did he tell you?”She felt herself becoming more and more frustrated.So it was Diego’s fault that Randy had vanished.

“Dora.”His voice was quiet.So much quieter than it had been in a long time.“Last night... was kind of... supposed to be...”

She folded her arms.They drew across his chest in the process.The laptop bobbled off their knees and tipped to the floor.

“A date.Diego had planned a date.And I know that you don’t feel that way about me.So...”He scooted away from her and flopped out of the beanbag.

“So you let me be a third wheel?” She rolled onto her knees, and put her hands on his chest, pinning him down.

“You know what that is?”

“Of course I do.I lived in the jungle, not under a rock.” She hiked a leg over him so she could sit back on his thighs.“When _Tío_ and Diego aren’t watching sports, _Abuela_ has the TV tuned to _novelas_ or _Tía_ has on a romantic comedy.”

Dora could feel her face becoming red.Every part of her was overheating, especially any part touching Randy.Even more of her pressed against him when he sat up.She remained in is his lap as he yanked over the beanbag to recline on.

“Which is why I couldn’t come.It’s embarrassing enough at lunch, when they act all snuggly but we’re stuck sitting there.Like ‘yeah, ignore us single folks, we don’t have any other friends so we spend all of our time crowding the lovebirds here.’I wasn’t about to do that when they were on an actual date.”

“But we’re _always_ together.”

“I know.The four of us are a team.” 

His hands were on her waist, keeping her at a distance.

“Not the four of us.”She saw the tightness in his eyebrows relax.“The two of us.”He finally had the same mysterious expression he’d worn earlier.“I don’t even know where Sammy lives,” she added, “much less which room is her bedroom.Or what her favorite SyFy show is. Or which constellations are her favorite.Or why you prefer cinnamon toothpaste. Or how sticky your fingers feel when you hand me the first piece of a freshly peeled clementine.Or how you smell like a mixture of cedar and chlorine when you shower after we go swimming.Or any of the hundred things that I know and love about you.”She huffed out of her nose, overwhelmed.She was breathing so hard she was sure Randy could feel it billowing over him like the beginnings of a tropical storm.

“There are _more_ than a hundred things that I love about you, too,” he said with the biggest grin.“Do you finally get it?What I meant?Is it clicking?”He wriggled his nose, waiting for an answer.

She nodded so furiously that she accidentally headbutted him.He laughed as he reached up to rub his forehead.

The looping, flipping, prickling, sputtering, swirling feeling dissipated.She was left with lightness.It was like her insides were effervescing in the most splendid way.She’d been so obsessed with analyzing mating rituals, that she’d completely overlooked her own experience.

Before she lost her nerve, she leaned forward.

Their faces touched briefly, but not at the forehead this time.

**Author's Note:**

> I came for Eugenio Derbez and Michael Peña as a hot dad, but I stayed for all the adorableness. <3
> 
> And once I saw the deleted scenes, (where poor Randy confessess and she friendzones the hell out of him) I knew I had to scribble something down.


End file.
